Looks like fun! I’m looking forward to the day when I can afford to go on a vacation again.
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Its been 7.5 months and 1617 replies (not counting this one) and I just went back to the beginning to start rereading some of the initial responses to what was going on and it shocks me how off even I was in my initial thinking when it came to CoVid-19. I cant believe we are still barely half way to a year since this was first brought up on the forum and once a year hits I plan on taking another look at the thread just to see how much more has changed.
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Not much, I’ve mostly had to stay inside for the past 5 years… they said self-isolate/quarantine/whatever no biggy,
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Yeah, some of society was already forced to self-isolate for various health reasons… (i know a few…raises hand)
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Now with the 2nd wave starting, I’m afraid we didn’t learn much with the first wave. Still too many people not taking it seriously.
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I have never been a fan of being around a lot of people either. It’s not that I’m antisocial - I like talking to people. Some people. In small doses.
I don’t like crowds. Busy places. Noisy places. Places where people are getting overly excited or aggressive. Strangers invading my personal space, etc. I never was comfortable with any of that. So when they told everyone to go home and stay home, I was quite happy to oblige. Figured I might start poking my head back out on a cautious and limited basis once the danger subsided.
But… as @princess1 pointed out… the danger never did subside, because too many others did not heed the warnings.
They are calling this the “second wave”… though where I live, at least, it’s not really a second wave… more like one big wave, because it never actually went away here. First wave came, lifeguards told people to get out of the water. They didn’t listen. They never do.
How many more will have to drown before people begin to care?
Just a rhetorical question. I don’t expect a logical answer. Because there is none. There is nothing logical about any of it. Just a bunch of unnecessary deaths that could have easily been prevented with a little bit of sense.
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Im going to get tested today, Ill let you know how it went when I get the results.
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I know I’ve mentioned this before, but I read a bit about the Spanish Flu for its parallels to Covid. Last big Pandemic. Masks. 4 waves. You know the phrase: “Those who do not read history are doomed to repeat it.”
I’m not a fan of doom, I’m a fan of knowledge. I think there is a lot we can learn from a look at the incorrectly named Spanish Flu pandemic. The mask bit was funny and tragic and informative. I renew my commitment to wearing masks in public places. I hadn’t slipped, but I wasn’t as careful as I will be.
Thank you, history lesson!
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Yep, I researched it a bit myself… the parallels are strikingly similar.
That was one aspect of it that I found particularly interesting. The fact that it probably didn’t even come from Spain at all… they got the blame because they were the only ones who were willing to acknowledge that it existed at the time.
Makes me wonder if COVID even originated in China.
Not that it makes a difference either way where it originated from. Viruses and such are a normal part of nature; it’s silly to think that we can completely eradicate them from the world if we drink enough tea or douse ourselves in hand sanitizer or whatever. Certain teas may help boost your immune system a little bit, and hand sanitizer may kill most of the virus that attached itself to the outside of your body, but neither one are going to make you immune to possibly inhaling a nearly invisible particle. And even if your own immune system is able to protect your body from succumbing to a virus, it’s not going to stop it from potentially replicating inside your body and allowing you to spread it to other people.
Most viruses require hosts in order to survive. The longer they survive, the more they are able to “reproduce”. The more they reproduce, the more likely they are to mutate. The more that they mutate, the less effective any potential vaccine or antibodies will be in fighting them.
Hands down, historically and scientifically speaking, the easiest way to stop the spread of a disease is to isolate those who carry it. Since it’s impossible to know who might be carrying it at any given time… you should just assume that everyone is a potential carrier. Masks may not be 100% effective in preventing you from inhaling every particle in the air, but they will block a lot of it… and studies have shown that the human body has a much better fighting chance against a virus when you only get a “little bit” of it in your system, vs. prolonged direct exposure where you may end up inhaling more viral particles than your natural defenses are able to handle at one time.
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I guess the only thing we know for 100% sure is … doing nothing isn’t helping!
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Quite true, in terms of large scale…
…but for me on a personal level… the best thing I can do to prevent the spread is to stay at home, completely isolated from the outside world, doing absolutely nothing. 
Every time I leave my place and go out in the world and get near other people, I run the risk of possibly picking up the virus and taking it home with me. Then after that, anyone else in my vicinity runs a risk of picking it up from me.
Really is kind of terrifying if you think about it. I mean, not like super “the sky is falling!” level of terrifying… because the virus doesn’t end up killing everyone who gets it.
But the thought that I could be walking around carrying something that might end up killing someone else is pretty scary.
The whole “justifications” that people try to make… “oh it only kills really old sick people”… um, okay? That’s supposed to make me feel better? I passed on a virus that ended up killing someone’s grandmother? “Eh, she was 80 years old, she was bound to die of something eventually anyway”…
No, man! That’s not cool. Doesn’t matter if it only kills 3% or whatever of people who get it. Wouldn’t be “cool” if it only killed 0.03% of people who caught it. The very fact that it is killing anyone at all - I mean, would anyone think it was funny to dump a bag of peanuts on someone with a peanut allergy? The excuse that “everyone else likes peanuts, we’re not allergic to it, we shouldn’t be forced to keep our peanuts away from people who are allergic to peanuts”… ummmm actually yes… yes you should. If you like peanuts, fine, eat your peanuts… but keep them 6 feet away from everyone else who might be allergic to them, because you don’t want to be responsible for somebody else’s unnecessary death… do you?
Odd analogy, I know. But I think it’s somewhat fitting.
On Covid, they’re pretty sure it originated in China (whether in a “wet market” or other place).
Spanish Flu was different. No one would talk about it except the Spanish. That would be like calling this the TGW flu. Or E&P flu. Silly, right?
My favorite mask story from then was the foolish folk who cut holes in the mask so they could smoke. Um…no.
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LOL I know, I wasn’t trying to say that it didn’t originate in China. I’m pretty sure it probably did. But it wouldn’t be right to blame it on the nation or the people. Lots of diseases originated in Africa and South America. Has nothing to do with the people who live there. Really more a matter of the fact that the region has the right conditions for diseases to survive in.
I’m certain that the disease originated on Planet Earth. Other planets beware! 
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Most likely yes.
But it’s also possible that viruses might exist on other planets too, and those are ones we’d have no natural immunities to at all. They could potentially wipe out all life on earth if they were to be brought back here.
#DontExploreMars!
LOL kidding…
… sort of.
Any news on a cure? Until then I will continue to shake my fist at the testing process (while participating)…
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Cure, no. I doubt there will ever be an actual “cure” so to speak. The human body’s own immune system is generally the most effective cure for most diseases.
Vaccine? Yes, I’m sure there will eventually be a vaccine. The question at that point would be, is the vaccine effective enough? And does it work for all strains of the virus?
As for treatments - there are already treatments. Some more effective than others… some of them potentially more harmful than the virus itself…
EDIT / ADDITIONAL:
The reason why this virus (and most viruses for that matter) are particularly more harmful for older people is because the older you get, the less effective your body’s immune system is.
Hence the theory that kids are just fine.
It’s not that kids are immune to it, but their bodies are still young and fresh and new, and their immune systems are capable of quickly spawning minions to combat viruses. LOL.
Doesn’t mean they can’t still catch and carry the virus and spread it to others though! That is one huge mistake they are making right now. By assuming that, just because kids probably won’t die from it, it’s okay for them all to go to school and sneeze on each other. Their own immune systems can probably handle a bit of COVID. But if they come home and sneeze on grandma, whose own immune system is slow and beaten down? Grandma’s tired white blood cells might not be strong enough to spawn minions to fight it. Because grandma’s immune system is all TC20 vanilla heroes with no costumes or emblems.
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I am positive which is awful
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I’m sorry to hear that 
Please do take care of yourself!
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